In this post we're going to take a look at some of the fundamental parts of a radio controlled airplane, in particular the parts that you control when you move a stick on your transmitter.
The control of an RC model plane is no different to a full scale (or full size) plane in terms of basic control surfaces and what they do. That said, there are the more basic toy RC planes (such as the ZY-425 and YF-350 for example) that use a totally different method of control, whereby two electric motors are used to control speed, height and turning. But in this article we'll just concentrate on a conventional RC plane, with proper control surfaces.
So what is a control surface? The three primary control surface types are the elevators, rudder and ailerons. A fourth is landing flaps, but it's unlikely you'll encounter these until you're further in to the hobby and flying more complex planes.
The elevators make up the rear section of the tailplane, or horizontal stabilizer. They are attached to the main section of the tailplane with hinges and move up and down, in accordance with your transmitter stick movements.
Pushing the stick away from you will make the elevators drop, which results in the plane diving towards the ground. Pulling the stick towards you raises the elevators, resulting in the plane pitching upwards. Elevators not only control this 'pitch attitude' of the plane (i.e. whether the plane is pointing up, down or is level) but they also control the plane's speed - if the plane is in a dive then the speed increases, and conversely if the plane pitches upwards the speed will decrease (not counting any change in motor power, that is).
The rudder makes up the rear section of the fin, or vertical stabilizer and is also hinged, so it can move left or right. Rudder controls the 'yaw' of the plane, which means the direction the nose is pointing - left, right or straight ahead.
Moving your transmitter rudder stick to the left will move the rudder to the left, which will make the plane turn to the left, and moving the stick right will obviously have the opposite effect.
The ailerons are found on the trailing edge (rear edge) of each wing, and they control the roll, or bank angle, of the plane. Ailerons move in opposite directions to each other, so as one aileron moves upwards so the other one moves downwards.
When the left aileron moves up and right aileron moves down, the plane will roll to the left, and vice versa. Only when up-elevator is applied at the same time will the plane actually turn in the appropriate direction, because the upward moving elevator forces the banked plane round into the turn.
Landing flaps, on more complex RC planes, are typically found on the trailing edge of each wing between the aileron and fuselage. The flaps are used to create more lift at slower speeds, and also to create extra drag for slowing the plane down when coming in to land. Unlike ailerons, both flaps work in unison so move downwards together.
Each separate controllable function on a radio controlled airplane is called a channel. A plane that has control to just motor power and rudder is a 2-channel plane, and one that has control to motor power, rudder and elevator is a 3-channel plane. Adding ailerons makes it a 4-channel plane, and adding flaps makes it a 5-channel plane, and so on. There's no real limit to how many channels an RC plane can be - other controllable functions can include retractable landing gear, operation of lights, smoke systems, cameras - even movement of an articulated pilot!
Do note, though, that a 3-channel plane can have rudder or aileron control - both will control the steering of the plane. Having ailerons is more fun than just rudder, because they make the plane more aerobatic, which means more stunt-flying capability!
With a 2-channel RC plane, your transmitter will have two sticks, one for each channel. Typically the left hand stick will move up and down to control motor power, and the right hand stick will move left and right to control rudder.
A 3 or more channel plane's transmitter will still only have two sticks, but each stick moves in both directions - up and down and left and right. Typically the left hand stick will control motor power (up/down) and rudder (left/right) and the right hand stick will control elevators (up/down) and ailerons (left/right).
It's this co-ordination of using the sticks in all directions that is a bit tricky to learn at first, but with regular practise you will get it soon enough!
Extra channels will be controlled by a selection of buttons, dials or levers placed around the transmitter, usually on the sides and top so they are all within easy fingertip reach.
So hopefully this article has introduced you to the fundamental controls of an RC airplane.
If you are new to the hobby, just concentrate on learning to fly a beginner-friendly airplane, many of which are sold by kidstoylover.com
Please check out my own website at rc-airplane-world.com for lots more 'getting started' information.
Happy Landings!
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